Rookie rowers finish off strong

With their fall season coming to an end, the men’s lightweight crew team finished soundly, if not victoriously.

With a time of 14:27.17, the Bulldogs finished seventh at the Belly of the Carnegie in Princeton, New Jersey. The regatta was the last of the fall season for Yale, and one in which, as freshman head coach Wesley Ng stated, many of the younger rowers gained experience.

“[The Belly of the Carnegie] was only the second race for many of our novices, and the first for others,” Ng said. “It was the first chance for some of them to show what they had learned up until now.”

The Yale B boat came in with a time of 14:37.10, finishing eleventh overall. Cornell’s B and A boats, respectively, took the top two spots in the standings, with the winning time being 13:40.04 in the 19-boat fleet.

The Belly of the Carnegie is an annual Head race sponsored by the Princeton University crew team for freshmen men and novice women collegiate crew teams. The Belly of the Carnegie regatta consists of races for Women, Lightweight Men and Heavyweight Men competing over a distance of 2.75 miles. The Bulldogs last won the Belly Bowl Trophy — the award given to the school with the combined best time for the top two boats in all three events — in 1998.

The race was a relatively uneventful one for the Elis’, who finished without passing or being passed. Despite finishing in the middle of the pack, Ng felt the team performed at its expected level.

“I’m encouraged with the results,” Ng said. “The nature of even boat racing is such that different teams are at very different stages of development – we came out with a performance that matched our level of preparation.”

The Elis’ finish this year was a slight improvement over last year’s regatta, where the lightweight A team finished ninth with a time of 16:40.08. The B team finished slightly lower in the rankings, but its time was a whole two minutes faster than last year’s.

Overall, the fall season ended up being a strong performance by the men’s lightweight crew team, and they hope to build on their performance next spring.

“Thanks to this regatta, we definitely know where we are and what we need to work on for the spring,” Ng said.

The Bulldogs’ next race is the San Diego Crew Classic on April 3, 2004 in San Diego, CA.